Carson Standout Takes Pride in His Junior Achievement : City 4-A: J.R. Redmond had doubts he could contribute, but he quickly emerged as Colts’ go-to guy.

It was a few minutes after the Carson High football team had defeated Sylmar in the City Section 4-A Division semifinals. J.R. Redmond had just finished talking to reporters when a couple of girls approached him.

“Hey J.R., can we have your autograph before you get rich and famous?” one of them asked jokingly.

The Colts’ junior wide receiver and running back hasn’t reached such lofty status, but he is getting there.

At 16, scouts already regard Redmond as one of the best athletes in the City.

“He came out of the shadows of some pretty good players at Carson and he’s made quite an impact this season,” said Richard Estrada, who covers the South Bay area for Para-Dies Scouting. “I think he’s going to be a really good player by next season.”

The 6-foot, 180-pounder already has Carson Coach David Williams convinced of his skills.

“He is a gifted athlete, one that doesn’t come along every year,” Williams said. “I had some previous experience coaching at Dorsey and two of the players I worked with were Beno Bryant (University of Washington) and Lamont Warren (Colorado). J.R. is in that same rare company both as a player and a person.”

The emergence of Redmond is not the only reason why Carson (9-4) has advanced to Saturday’s 4-A championship game against Dorsey (10-3) at 1 p.m. at El Camino College. But few players have contributed to the Colts’ success in so many ways.

Redmond leads the Colts in pass receptions with 26 for 536 yards and four touchdowns, kick returns with 11 for 338 yards and a TD, punt returns with 11 for 302 yards and three TDs and all-purpose yards with 1,316 and 10 TDs. He has also rushed for 140 yards and two TDs.

If that’s not enough, Redmond, who also plays defensive back, has one interception, three pass deflections and five tackles for losses.

He has also been the team’s kicker.

When Carson played Dorsey on Oct. 22, Redmond played eight positions: tailback, wingback, quarterback, strong safety, wide receiver, kicker, punt returner and kick returner.

“He plays both ways for us and he could play any position he wanted to and start for us,” Williams said. “He’s the kind of guy who can master things quickly and excel at them.”

Redmond also plays guard on the basketball team and excels in the 200-meter dash, high jump, long jump and relays in track and field.

He knows how to make a good first impression.

“The first day of track, he high jumped 6-4 with no prior training,” Williams said. “I could just go on and on about him because he just has that kind of athletic ability.”

He provided a glimpse of things to come in 1992 when played for Williams on the Colts’ B team. Redmond played as many as seven positions and was named Southern Pacific Conference most valuable player.

“Last year, we were arguably the best B team in the City and he was the main reason why,” Williams said. “This year we’ve had more ups and downs on the varsity, but we’ve always been competitive and he’s helped keep us that way.”

Not that Redmond didn’t have his doubts at first about moving up to the varsity.

“I think at the beginning of the year I was worried that this was the varsity and I was only on the B team last year,” Redmond said. “So I was bulking myself up with some big, old pads and it just made me go slower. When I took them off, I just got faster and every game since then I’ve just been getting better.”

But it didn’t take Redmond long to settle down. He has been receiving considerable attention from scouts and the media after scoring three touchdowns in Carson’s conference opener against Washington on Oct. 1.

Redmond used his first newspaper clipping as motivation.

“When I read the paper and saw what it said about me, I just wanted to go back out the next week and get better,” Redmond said.

Said Williams: “He’s very focused on the game. He does what we ask of him and he doesn’t whine about it like some players. He’s gotten a lot of attention lately, but he hasn’t changed and become selfish or think he doesn’t have to work for it.”

The youngest in a family of six, Redmond credits his father with helping him succeed. Joseph Robert Redmond Sr. was a four-sport standout at Jefferson and played football for David Williams Sr., the father of the Carson coach.

“It was kind of funny because Coach Williams Sr. helps coach here, too, and my dad came to practice one day earlier in the season and when they saw each other they just hugged,” Redmond said.

Championship games notes

The Colts will be bidding for their first City title since 1990, when they defeated rival Banning behind current Brigham Young quarterback John Walsh. . . . Carson lost to Sylmar, 17-0, in the 1992 4-A final at El Camino, but defeated the Spartans, 22-21, last week to advance to Saturday’s title game.

Dorsey’s 18-13 victory over Carson on Oct. 22 was only the second time the Dons have defeated the Colts. Dorsey’s other victory was in the 1989 City title game. Carson leads the series, 11-2-1. . . . The Colts have played in the City final in 18 of their 31 seasons of competition. The have won eight times. . . . Carson has outscored its opponents, 65-0, in the third quarter this season.